I'm a bit surprised there are no comments here about the He's Gone. Give it a listen, especially the intro; it almost drifts off to another key, but I think it was just a short exploratory "we have landed again in the key of E" type of intro.
And sung with much emotion, as much of this second set was. 

Also, about Garcia's two solos in Comes a Time. I agree he wanted a second one because he got lost a bit in the first break; but only at the very end. The first part of the solo is through the roof! I think it's forgivable because Jerry, as he so often does, is looking for those notes nobody else has ever found in a particular context. In any case, the second solo is better, and the song as a whole is a fantastic version.

And thx for the reviewer’s post of BW and PL talking about the complexities of Comes a Time. definitely a hard song to pull off, but so worth it when they do.

This Jack Straw is the best ever in my opinion.
The crowd is going crazy and the drums and base go around two or three times waiting for the climax.
UFB

Lots of good shows abound in this spring '78 tour (4/6/78-5/17/78). Of those, these have seen the official GD release treatment: Dave's 7 Normal- 4/22, Dave's 15 Nashville- 4/24, and Dick's 25 New Haven and Springfield- 5/10-5/11. Also, if you count 30 trips, there's May 14, 1978 from Providence, RI. Here's what one blogger had to say in a review ("Listen to the Thunder Shout") posted on Talk From the Rock Room: "While often obscured in the shadow of the monumental 1977 tours, the Spring of 1978 finds a different and even looser band than the previous year. The band can be heard jamming nightly, all the while balanced delicately on the edge of chaos and musical magic." Read more: http://www.talkfromtherockroom.com/2018/02/grateful-dead-may-14-1978-providence-ri.html.

At any rate, this is a good show, but not as good as the winter '78 Chicago run (1/30-2/1). Some nifty, and high energy jamming- and definitely check out TMNS- but the scarlet->fire is better on the 31st and the estimate->he’s gone better on the 1st. That said the estimated stretches and I sort of dig the acappella ending to he’s gone. Really long - uneventful - 15 minutes of drums is followed by 7 minutes of space-noodling that goes into a sweet, albeit imperfect, Comes A Time. Good Sugar Mag/SSDD to close and JBG encore. Perhaps I’ve grown spoiled from all the Miller SBDs in the archive, but this AUD recording isn’t great.

Comes A Time aside, don't miss the savagely primal Sugar Mags closer. I'm pretty sure this is all Mickey. The JBG encore has the savage element too.

I loved the Comes A Time, but the Sugar Mags stopped my clock. Give it a listen.

In the top handful, best of category. Not to be missed. Beautiful, thundering mid section jam.

An amazing sounding audience tape.It sounds like someone is trying to explain Werewolves of London or Warren Zeon to a friend right before the band walks out on stage...I love to hear that kind of stuff. It definitely puts you in the time period.

Comes A Time is simply amazing!

With all the talk about this song I remembered this interview of Bobby and Phil by Marty Martinez & David Gans from 1995 for the Hundred Year Hall: http://www.levity.com/gans/hyh.html

Here's the relevant section:

"MM: Included on this disc is a wonderful song, one of my favorites, "Comes a Time." I've always wondered why it kind of faded from the songbook. And it's great to have it on this CD.

Lesh: Oh, I love the song, too...

Weir: I do, too.

Lesh: ...I think it's a marvelous song.

MM: Why did it fade from the songbook over the years?

Weir: Jerry was always trying to bring it back, but it's one of those songs where there're a couple more chord changes than you can easily remember. So you have to roll over it. And, and we never got around to, uh,you know, we'd - "we gotta work that one up!" "Yeah, next sound check, man!" And...

Lesh:

Weir: ...it never happened.

Lesh: Exactly. The other thing about that song is the introduction was real tricky.

Weir: Yeah.

Lesh: Jerry and I would start in what they call "contrary motion" - lines that went in different directions. And it was just the two of us. And then, about three notes later, the other band members would come in. Or did you play in unison with him?

Weir: Mm-hmm.

Lesh: Oh, that's right, that' s right - we had a three-part linear, but it was like counterpoint, everybody had to play the right note at the right point. And, uh -

Weir: None of us could remember it.

Lesh: It got pretty tricky there, because I thought I knew where *I* was supposed to start, but it didn't sound right...

Weir:

Lesh: ...for one thing.

DG: Well, it finally got recorded quite beautifully - in this very room, actually [Bob Weir's home studio] - on Jerry's Reflections album. Then it came back into the Grateful Dead repertoire just a couple years ago - to the delight of the audience, as far as I can tell.

Weir: Mm-hmm.

Lesh: Oh, yeah, it's a marvelous song.

Weir: We never did it quite enough to get it as strong as we wanted to do it...

Lesh: Right.

Weir: ...uh, to sort of put it in the "featured ballad," uh, position.

Lesh: Yeah, it had an ending that we could go *out* on, kinda like "Morning Dew"...

Weir: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Lesh: ... or "Stella Blue" or something like that, but we just never did it enough; it's one of those lost opportunities."

Check out Taper's Section for Nov 21-27, 2011 on dead.net for Estimated thru JBG

As said in earlier post, you can go on and on about the 'best version' of various songs...just give me a song that's played with intense emotion any day. This Comes a Time is not pitch perfectly played, but is sung by Jerry with intense, raw emotion and truth. When the band played with that sort of emotion, it reached the apex as far as I'm concerned. But, then again, it's all subjective. Apart from a smokin' Jack Straw to open things, the rest of this show is rather ordinary. The four stars come for the exceptional Comes a Time.

A bit of a side story about Comes a Time. In 200 plus shows I have too many magical moments to count but one that stands towards the top for me was Comes a Time from Greeks in 85. There is no recording that does justice to the sound of 5,000 people collectively holding thier breath as Jerry wispers the words "comes a time" after the solo...and then something that I have never been able to accurately describe but the roar that went up from the crowd as he finished those lyrics...the sound that wanted to bust out from so many but no one dared to be heard over him or the band. The actual "sound" of pent up energy - it is the sound that you dont actually hear. - It will never leave me.

It is a special song and so here I am today, flipping through one of my favorite eras and I see this previously unnoticed (by me) Comes a Time"...audience..almost gave it a miss but clicked on it....

Not sure if it is the recording or the unique, rarified way in which they are playing but as they dropped into it, I felt like I was walking in on a room from 31 years ago where an incredibly intimate conversation was taking place between the band and the lucky assembled at the Uptown Theater that night. It is so good I almost felt like I was intruding.

I am both a big fan and a critic of the "best of all time" conversation. It is fun to hear the heated debates and it usually brings me to versions of songs I have not heard before...at the same time it is useless and subjective. In the case of this debated "Comes a Time"...I will resort to the Olympic gymnastics scoring of "Technical Merit" AND "Artistic Impression". To Jeriouvis...I agree with you and I don't necessarily score this high on Technical Merit. However as far as Artistic Impression...I do not know if I have ever heard its equal. It is tremendously unique, heartfelt and raw. I love it and goes a very long way to stomp out any shortcomings in technial merit! The audience recording is as good as I have ever heard and completely puts you in the room. I would go so far as to say that a SBD of this would probably be a dissapointment. Anyway, thanks for indulging and enjoy.

This song is rare (65 performances)because most of the time when they played it,they hacked it up either vocally or musically,usually they did both.This performance is no different,Jerry mangles the vocals first,then plays a painfully bad solo.They go back to singing bad and finish with a horrible off-key two note solo.Explain to me at what point is this the best,or an amazing version.I found it hard to listen to,and I love this song,when played even just competently,it is beautiful.

As a musician, Garcia and the boys were always coming up with something that I wished I'd of thought of. Trying to explain their magic is hard,but my favorite thing to explain to others is when I have dreamed an entire concert, a freebie as it is. That is good fortune.

they have great energy this night and the next and the recordings are just splendid, with minimal audience noise -- HOWEVER, phil is very low in the mix -- you can bring him up a bit if you equalize....

fire on the mt, he's gone, space>comes a time are all great -- jer is in good voice

haha i love that slide bob plays at the beginning of fire, and the quality of the recording is......incredible

To LiquidCity & MushroomEagle,
NOT EVEN CLOSE.....BUD! LOL! The first solo is botched so badly...he basically starts over. If this is the best one in your opinion....you haven't heard...scratch that...you haven't listened to them all.

JK

Nice aud! Even Donna isn't too off...the boys are in the mellow, airy, soaring zone at the place I was weaned on the Dead: the Uptown in Chicago! Great year to be 17 years old; they played tons of times there: 01-30-78, 01-31-78, 02-01-78, 05-16-78, 05-17-78, 11-16-78, 11-17-78b, 11-18-78.

I heard the DireWolf on RadioioDead.com from a soundboard source. I emailed RadioioDead to see where they got this. They said it was a gift from David Lemieux. Would love to see this show released someday in SBD. I'm sure it would be on the top of everyones list if it did appear as soundboard.

So glad to hear this show after much searching. Quite a night for the band (and me). The subtlety and emotion are in full flight. Three cheers for classic dead for free!

The show starts with a great Jack Straw. The next few songs are respectable, though nothing special. The bands starts to get in a great space again in Row Jimmy Row, where Jerry's vocal and guitar convey the mood well. The jams throughout the show, including the extended jam in the Music Never Stopped, are right on target. The band was in the zone this night.

More people should listen to this show. The May 10 show, however, is better. Go check it out.

I have to reiterate the previous statement...BEST Comes a Time EVER!
you can hear the pain in jerry's voice when he sings...the first solo screaming and the second finishing with that menacing round of only 2 notes...why we love jerry.
tight. get it.

Amazing and rare Comes A Time from 78 - two rounds in the solo! and in the out jam Jerry stays on two notes for about 30 seconds - different yet definitive version.

sound quality is very good....quite impressive....but the reason im writing this review...the band was deffinatly on tonight....i have heard alot of shows and this is by far one of if not my favorite..atleast from this time period...recomended..amazing setlist..well..just listen to it man and if you dont like it delete it after wards but atleast try it out